Starstruck' & 'The No-Boys Cricket Club'


Book Description

Two plays by a young British playwright who is fast making a name for himself. Williams is winner of the 1998-99 John Whiting Award for Best New Play and 1998 Alfred Fagon Award (both for Starstruck) and 1996 TAPS Writer of the Year Award Starstruck: When Hollywood heartthrob Stewart Granger lands in Kingston to shoot his latest movie, the whole town goes crazy. Will Dennis become a star or does girlfriend Pammy have other ambitions? And will Gravel's new money-making scheme leave his wife seeking comfort elsewhere? The No Boys Cricket Club: Coping alone with her troublesome family and warring neighbours in a drab London council estate, Abi has long since lost sight of the good things in life - until an old friend takes her back to her glorious past in Jamaica as the greatest all-rounder of the all-female No Boys Cricket Club.




Williams Plays: 1


Book Description

The first collection of plays by the multi-award winning playwright and winner of the 2001 "Most Promising Playwright" Evening Standard Theatre Award THE NO BOYS CRICKET CLUB (1996): Living alone on a drab London council estate, Abi has long since lost sight of the good things in life, until an old friend takes her back to her glorious past in Jamaica as the greatest all-rounder of the No Boys Cricket Club. STARSTRUCK (1997): is a hilarious and moving snapshot of the hopes and broken dreams of a family in the Caribbean at a time when Hollywood heart-throb Stewart Granger lands in Kingston to shoot his latest movie. It was the winner of the John Whiting Award and the Alfred Fagon award (1997). LIFT OFF (1999): When old time school friends Mal and Tone begin to break their lifelong friendship, bitter prejudices are brought to the fore. Joint-winner of the George Devine Award 2000. "Williams' writing snaps and crackles, his characters burst with life, emotion and contradiction" Guardian "Williams, a young, prolific and successful black British writer...certainly has a gift" Sunday Times "Roy Williams shows himself to be a sassy, sophisticated diviner of the human heart" Evening Standard




Days of Significance


Book Description

Written in response to Much Ado About Nothing and performed by Dominic Cooke's Pericles and The Winter's Tale Company, Roy Williams' Days of Significance is set in market-town England and the deserts of Iraq. Two young soldiers join their friends to binge drink the night before they leave for active service. Their complex love lives and mortal fears directly impact on their tour of duty. Roy Williams looks at how the naive and malformed moral codes of these young men have catastrophic reverberations for the West's moral authority.




Williams Plays: 3


Book Description

Roy Williams has a deserved reputation as one of the most exciting young writers whose plays have electrified the sort of audiences most theatres rarely see: streetwise urban youth. 'His plays have brought the experience of black urban youth onto the stage' (Observer).This third collection of plays, introduced by the author, showcases the diversity, the moral probing and the fine ear for authentic dialogue characteristic of his writing: Fallout: first produced in 2003 the play focuses on the aftermath of the killing of a teenager. Slow Time was commissioned and developed by the National Theatre's Education Department and toured to London schools. Set in a young offender's institution the play depicts three young men and their fight to survive. Days of Significance was produced by the RSC in 2007 and is revived at the Tricycle Theatre, London in March 2008. It was described by the Daily Telegraph as 'the best new play of the year ... that powerfully caught the debased spirit of our times.' Absolute Beginners - a stage adaptation of the seminal novel of adolescence set in 1958 London - produced at the Lyric Hammersmith May 07: 'bags of energy and highly watchable' Daily Mail.




The Oberon Book of Monologues for Black Actors


Book Description

Foreword by Naomie Harris How many Black British plays can you name? Inspired by both classical and contemporary plays, The Oberon Book of Monologues for Black Actresses gives readers an insight into some of the best cutting-edge plays written by black British playwrights, over the last sixty years. This collection features over twenty speeches by Britain’s most prominent black dramatists. The monologues represent a wide-range of themes, characters, dialects and styles. Suitable for young people and adults, each selection includes production information, a synopsis of the play, a biography of the playwright and a scene summary. The aim of this collection is that actors will enjoy working on these speeches, using them to help strengthen their craft, and by doing so, help to ensure these plays are always remembered.




Black British Drama


Book Description

Black British Drama: A Transnational Story looks afresh at the ways black theatre in Britain is connected to and informed by the spaces of Africa, the Caribbean and the USA. Michael Pearce offers an exciting new approach to reading modern and contemporary black British drama, examining plays by a range of writers including Michael Abbensetts, Mustapha Matura, Caryl Phillips, Winsome Pinnock, Kwame Kwei-Armah, debbie tucker green, Roy Williams and Bola Agbaje. Chapters combine historical documentation and discussion with close analysis to provide an in-depth, absorbing account of post-war black British drama situated within global and transnational circuits. A significant contribution to black British and black diaspora theatre studies, Black British Drama is a must-read for scholars and students in this evolving field.




Williams Plays: 2


Book Description

Second collection of plays by the award-winning young British playwright Sing Yer Heart Out for the Lads: Tensions erupt in a South London pub as England lose against Germany at football Clubland: Ben is married to Denise but on the pull, Kenny's looking for someone who's "right", Ade's with Sandra but playing the field and Nate's a proud father, in this urban drama of race and sexual politics in West London. The Gift: Since her childhood, when she left Jamaica for England, Heather's sister has claimed to have the gift of raising spirits from the dead. When her son is murdered, Heather returns to Jamaica and begs her sister to bring him back to life.Winner of the Evening Standard's Most Promising Playwright Award, 2001 - shortlisted for Best Play Award 2003 "Williams' writing snaps and crackles, his characters burst with life, emotion and contradiction" Guardian "Roy Williams shows himself to be a sassy, sophisticated diviner of the human heart" Evening Standard




The Theatre Guide


Book Description

With over 500 entries on the most important plays and playwrights performed today, The Theatre Guide provides an authoritative A - Z of the contemporary theatre scene. From Aristophanes to Mark Ravenhill, The Alchemist to The Talking Cure, the Guide is both biographically detailed and critically current, while an extensive cross-referencing system allows for wider perspectives and new discoveries. Stimulating, observant and informative, The Theatre Guide is an essential companion and reference tool for anyone with an active interest in drama.




Staging New Britain


Book Description

"Edited by Geoffrey V. Davis and Anne Fuchs"--T.p.




Williams Plays: 4


Book Description

'[Williams's] plays have brought the experience of black urban youth onto the stage' Observer Sucker Punch: 'As usual with Williams, the dialogue is crisp and bespoke: motives are mixed, nobody is a hero, nothing is just black and white.' The Times Joe Guy: 'Williams's dialogue ricochets around the stage like gunfire . . . energetic, exciting and entertaining.' Stage Category B: 'Category B is a harrowing play, but one shot through with both dark humour and tentative flickers of hope'. Daily Telegraph Baby Girl: 'The shocking thing about Roy Williams's Baby Girl is that it argues that there is a cyclical pattern to teenage pregnancy . . . Williams paints a rivetingly plausible picture of a world in which mothers and daughters are sexual rivals, 'virgin' is the ultimate peer insult and the school gates are a fertile hunting ground for male predators.' Guardian There's Only One Wayne Matthews: 'Williams's writing is punchy . . . Wayne's gradual understanding of the realities of the world make this a touching coming-of-age drama.' Guardian




Recent Books